The Complete Tolkien Companion (48 page)

Harding of the Hill
– The great-grandson of Samwise Gamgee (through his son Frodo Gardner). The Gardners of the Hill lived in Bag End following Sam's departure from the Shire.

Hareth
– The daughter of Halmir chieftain of the
HALADIN
; She wedded Galdor the Tall of Dor-lómin, the son of Hador Lórindol, thus uniting the Second and Third Houses of the Edain. Her own Sons were Húrin and Huor.

Harfoots
– One of the three breeds or clans of Hobbits; the ‘most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous [and] most inclined to settle in one place'.
1
Harfoots also maintained the archaic habit of dwelling in burrows (or
smials
) for longer than other Hobbits. Most Shire-hobbits were Harfoots.

Harlindon
‘South-Lindon' (Sind.) – That part of the Elvish land of
LINDON
which lay south of the Gulf of Lune.

Harlond
‘Southern-haven' (Sind.) – The name for at least two separate harbours in Middle-earth: a haven in the Gulf of Lune, and the landings on the Anduin which served Minas Tirith as a river-port.

Harma
– The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘treasure'; also the title of Tengwa number 11, which represented the sound (hard)
ch
(as in
loch
). This sound later became ‘softened' to simple
h
(e.g. from
Rochand
to
Rohan
), except at the end of words and before the consonant
t.

Harnen
‘South-water' (Sind.) – This river was accounted the frontier between South Gondor and the lands of Harad. It rose in the southern range of the Ephel Dúath (Mountains of Shadow) and flowed westwards to find the sea some two hundred miles south of the Anduin delta.

Note:
on early maps of Third Age Middle-earth, this river, though marked, is not named.

Harondor
‘South-Gondor' (Sind.) – The name given in Gondor to all the lands between the rivers Poros and Harnen. In the early Third Age the Dúnedain of the South claimed these barren desert lands as part of their realm. Later, Harondor became a contested region between Gondor and the Harad.

Harrowdale
– The high vale in the northern White Mountains, above which lay Dunharrow, the most ancient stronghold in Rohan.

Harry Goatleaf
– One of the Big Folk of Bree, employed in the year 3018 Third Age as a watcher on the western gate. Like one or two other Bree-men, he was of inferior sort and easily corrupted. He later became a common footpad and his fate is not recorded.

Harvestmath
–
See
HALIMATH
.

Hasufel
– A noble horse of Rohan; a handsome grey whose rider, Gárulf, was slain during the War of the Ring, in a battle between Orcs of Isengard and the
éored
of Éomer, Third Marshal of the Mark. Éomer later lent Hasufel to Aragorn and the horse served him well.

Hathaldir the Young
– One of the Edain of the First House; he was a companion of
BARAHIR
in the last campaign made on Dorthonion in the years following the Dagor Bragollach.

Hathol
– The Grandson of Malach Aradan of the Third House of the Edain; father of Hador Lórindol of Dor-lómin.

Hatholdir
– A lord of Númenor and friend of King Tar-Meneldur. His son Orchaldor wedded the King's daughter Ailinel.

Hauberk
– A sleeveless mail-jacket designed to protect the neck and upper body.

Haudh-en-Arwen
‘Howe [Burial-mound] of the Maiden Queen' (Sind.) – The burial tumulus, in Brethil, of
HALETH
. Also known as
Tûr Haretha
(‘Haleth's Mound') in the early form of Adûnaic spoken by the Haladin.

Haudh-en-Elleth
‘Mound-of-the-Elf-maid' (Sind.) – The burial barrow of Finduilas daughter of Orodreth King of Nargothrond, at the Crossings of Teiglin. She was slain by Orcs.

Haudh-en-Gwanûr
‘Mound-of-the-Twins' (Sind.) – The barrow which covered the remains of the brothers Fastred and Folcred of Rohan. It stood by the river Poros.
See
BATTLE OF THE CROSSINGS OF POROS
.

Haudh-en-Ndengin
‘Hill-of-Slain' (Sind.; also known as
Haudh-en-Nirnaeth,
‘Mound-of-Tears') – The great mound of corpses – of Elves and Men alike – built by the Orcs of Angband after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, in Anfauglith.

Haunted Mountain
– A translation of the Northern Mannish word
Dwimorberg;
being the name given in Rohan to a peak of the White Mountains, which overhung Dunharrow.

Haunted Pass
– Cirith Gorgor.

Haven of the Swans
– A translation of the Quenya name
ALQUALONDË
; the chief city and haven of the Sea-elves of Aman (the Teleri).

Havens of Sirion
– The secret harbour near the Sirion delta, founded by Elves after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and the fall of the Falas.

Havens of the Falas
–
EGLAREST
and
BRITHOMBAR
.
See also
FALATHRIM
.

Haysend
– A village of southern Buckland. It was located at the mouth of the Withywindle, where this river flowed out of the Old Forest and became part of the Baranduin (Brandywine).

Hayward
– A family of Buckland-hobbits, traditional keepers and patrollers of the High Hay.

Headstrong
– A family of Shire-hobbits related to the Brandybucks.

Heathertoes
– A family of ‘Big People' of Bree.

Heavy-handed
– An early Elvish epithet for the race of Men.

Heirs of Anárion
– The ruling dynasty of Gondor, from the death of Elendil at the end of the Second Age to the passing of King Eärnur (2050 Third Age). Anárion was the younger son of Elendil the Tall, who founded both Arnor and Gondor in the year 3320 Second Age. From that date onwards, Anárion ruled Gondor conjointly with his elder brother Isildur, until his own death at the siege of Barad-dûr in 3440. When Elendil himself died, one year later, the lordship of Arnor was taken up by Isildur, and Gondor's rule was then given to Meneldil, Anárion's son. From Meneldil, the Kings of Gondor descended in line unbroken for nearly a thousand years.

Throughout the second millennium of the Third Age, the maintenance of the Line of Anárion became ever more difficult, and at last open dispute flared between rival claimants to the Throne. There then ensued the disastrous Kin-strife, the civil war of Gondor which nearly brought an end to the South-kingdom. Nevertheless, the Heirs of Anárion endured until the days of Eärnur, the thirty-third King; after him the last link with Elendil was broken. For Eärnur rode away to Minas Morgul and never came back, and he left no son to succeed him. Gondor was thereafter ruled by her Stewards (of the House of Húrin).

See also
LINES OF DESCENT
.

Heirs of Isildur
– The ruling dynasty of Arnor (and Arthedain). Although the North-kingdom itself dwindled in both size and strength and eventually passed away altogether, its ruling House was maintained against all odds in line unbroken – until, at the very end of the Third Age, the last Heir of Isildur was able to restore both the Kingship in Arnor and the ancient union with the South-kingdom of Gondor. Isildur was the elder son of Elendil the Tall, High-King of Arnor and Gondor and founder of both the Realms in Exile. Upon his father's death Isildur assumed the High-Kingship and in Year 2 Third Age journeyed to Arnor to take up the Sceptre. But he never reached the North-kingdom, and his youngest son Valandil – whose three brothers were also lost with Isildur – then became King. All the Kings of Arnor and Arthedain (and the subsequent Chieftains of the North) were descended father to son from Valandil. The last Heir of Isildur in the Third Age was Aragorn II, sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain; he later became ruler of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor.
See also
LINES OF DESCENT
.

Helcar
‘Icy' (Sind.) – The name given in the lore of the Eldar to the great Inland Sea of the north and east of Middle-earth, formed in ancient days by the destruction of the Mountain of Illuin. The Lake of Cuiviénen, the ‘Water of Awakening' of the Elves, was a bay of Helcar.

Helcaraxë
‘Jaws of Ice' (Q.) – The Northern Ice. Where the coasts of Aman and Middle-earth approached one another, in the Far North of the World, the Sea had frozen, and cliffs and bergs of ice and uncounted smaller floes ground together everlastingly. Only once in recorded history was a crossing on foot ever successfully completed: that undertaken by the Noldor of the Houses of Fingolfin and Finarfin, after these rebelling High-elves had been treacherously abandoned in Aman by Fëanor.

Helevorn
‘Black-glass' (Sind.) – The lake in the extreme north of Thargelion, about which Caranthir of the Noldor made his realm.

Hells of Iron
– A translation of the Sindarin name
Angband.

Helluin
‘Blue Ice' (Sind.) – The Elves' name for the Dog Star.

Helm Hammerhand
– From 2741–59 Third Age, the ninth King of Rohan and the last of the First Line of the Mark. A strong man of great size, Helm received the nickname ‘Hammerhand' when he slew a renegade chieftain, Freca, with one blow from his fist. This act precipitated civil war in Rohan. A force of Dunlendings led by Freca's son Wulf invaded the Mark and Helm's elder son Haleth was slain defending the King's Hall. The King himself was defeated at the Isen and forced to seek refuge within the Hornburg.

Helm's misfortunes unhappily coincided with the Long Winter of 2758–59 Third Age, when the hardships already suffered by the besieged were exacerbated by famine and severe cold. Helm's younger son Háma perished, and the King, in his grief, took to clothing himself in white and stalking his enemies across the snow on moonless nights. One morning Helm failed to return from a sortie, and was found standing on the Dike, stiff and still as a statue, stone dead. The line of the Kings of Rohan was recommenced with Fréaláf, son of Helm's sister Hild.

Helmingas
– The ‘Sons-of-Helm'; a name adopted by the Men of Westfold in Rohan as a tribute to the great warrior-king
HELM HAMMERHAND
, who died in defence of the Westfold during the Long Winter.

Helm of Hador
–
See
DRAGON-HELM
(
OF DOR-LÓMIN
).

Helm's Deep
– The general name for the complex of fortifications at the head of the Deeping Coomb in the northern White Mountains; the hold was originally built by Gondor but later strengthened by Kings of Rohan. The ‘Deep' itself was the narrow and precipitous gorge of Aglarond, an ancient refuge and strong-place of the Westfold. To guard the entrance to the gorge (Helm's Gate), various defensive walls and towers were built, the chief of which was the Hornburg. It was in this fortress that the renowned Helm Hammerhand took refuge during the Long Winter of 2758–59 Third Age.
See also
BATTLE OF THE HORNBURG
.

Helm's Dike
– The great fosse or defensive ditch across the head of the Deeping Coomb; the outermost of the fortifications known collectively as Helm's Deep.

Helm's Gate
– The entrance to the gorge of Aglarond, guarded by the Deeping Wall and its towers. The gorge itself, together with its complex of fortifications, was known as Helm's Deep.

Henderch
– A mariner of Númenor, companion of Tar-Aldarion.

Henneth Annûn
‘Window of the Sunset' (Sind.) – An outpost of Gondor built in the contested province of Ithilien during the latter years of the Third Age. For by that time (over a century before the War of the Ring), it had at last become apparent that Gondor could no longer maintain a foothold in North Ithilien: Mordor-orcs roamed the country and the few remaining settlements there were heavily fortified. Therefore, foreseeing the type of warfare that Gondor would need to employ in order to make Ithilien a dangerous gain for the Enemy, Steward Túrin II constructed hidden refuges among the uplands and forests of that fair country. Of these secret places, the longest-guarded and best-concealed was Henneth Annûn, a complex of natural caves and passages hidden behind a high waterfall which faced west over the Anduin vale. A secret passage led up to the caves from the forest below, and a further tunnel gave access to the rock platform at the head of the waterfall. The refuge was kept amply provisioned and provided an excellent base from which the Rangers of Ithilien were able to foray against the Enemy.